By Myles Palmer
_________________
Arsenal 5 Newcastle 0
_________________
Arsene Wenger said this result was a turning point in the life of the team.
As he sometimes does after a thrilling victory, Arsene spoke candidly about the weak points of his team. He also demonstrated an exemplary command of Premiership arithmetic.
I said, “Perfect Saturday for you? Five nil – and Man Utd drop two points!”
His first reply was modest.
“Yes, but I don’t look too much at Man United because we are too far behind. I look at the performance of my team, and I feel that we had already a very good game against Bayern Munich. We were really unlucky. And sometimes you have to recognise the quality of your performance even when you don’t win. And we confirmed today that we have shown some quality in our game. We got the goals as well, early in
the game, and that helped us of course. I felt overall we had a good performance.”
WHAT DID YOU THINK OF HENRY TODAY?
“The first goal gave him a lift. And the fact that he scored against Bayern, you could see that he’s a different player when he gets the goals.Thierry’s strength is that he can always make the runs behind the defence, but his final ball is good. And it’s seldom that you find a striker
who can give so many good final balls as Thierry can give. Once he gets the goals he’s more free, more confident as well to put other players in.”
HE IS LINKING WELL WITH KANU NOW?
“I felt always we have four world class strikers and I must tell you, as a manager, its very difficult to say what is good and what is less good.
“Dennis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry can be perfect, or with Wiltord. We have four world class strikers and it was very difficult to explain why we couldn’t score for five or six games. I think it was more about confidenceand team play than individual quality.
“I’m pleased for Ray Parlour as well because he’s had a tremendous game today. Not only because he scored the goals, but his work rate was excellent and his passing he has improved by playing central. By some passes he has made today you could see he has made a big step forward,vision-wise.
HAS HIS SHOOTING IMPROVED?
“Yes.”
IS THAT BECAUSE HE’S IN THE MIDDLE ANDE BOT
SHGOOTING FROM AN ANGLE?
“I think yes. It’s easier for him. On the right it’s much more difficult to score. I think as well he looks like sometimes when he plays on the right side, and the ball is on the left, he doesn’t get the timing right to get in front of the defender, coming in from the right side. But when he comes from deep his timing looks to be right on his runs to get behind the defenders. His timing when he comes lateral is not good, but when he comes from deep he looks spot-on.”
WHAT IS HIS BEST POSITION? WITH VIEIRA?
“His best position from now on should be central. He looks moreconfident central. He played with Vieira already. He played with Vieira at Lds, for exampe. He played some games with Vieira. But I feel as well that Gilles Grimandi is a needed player in there because he stabilises our midfield defensively, plays simple passes and deep passes.I thought
that from the start of the season. that we could have three players in there and that the three players could be Vieira, Parlour and Grimandi, that’s why I didn’t replace Petit when he left.”
DID YOU TELL HIM TO GET MORE INTO THE BOX?
“It’s natural for Ray Parlour to go there. For Gilles Grimandi it’s natural to stay. To be a holding player, and Ray Parlour to go. It looks like his timing is right when he goes in there. But Newcastle played very high and without pressure on the ball.”
DID YOU THINK THAT SOONER OR LATER YOU WOULD CANE
SOME TEAM? EVEN THOUGH YOU’VE GONE ALL THOSE
MATCHES WITHOUT SCORING?
“In fairness, in the recent games, at Everton we didn’t create anything. Southampton, we didn’t create many chances. But in the games before we always created chances but couldn’t finish. Today we could.”
COMING UP TO THE TURN OF THE YEAR, ARE YOU IN THE
POSITION THAT YOU WANT TO BE IN?
“No, I would love to be in the position of Man United, with them being six points behind us. Let’s now see. We have another big test next Monday. It for was for me a turning point today in the life and confidence of the team. Because after not winning today, going out at Tottenham and Liverpool would have been very bad confidence-wise.If we lose today and Manchester wins we are 11 points behind. We would feel then that we are already under a lot of pressure before the game.Then of course everybody would say : OK, Arsenal is finished, there’s no chance any more at all.”
WOULD YOU FEEL LIKE THAT?
“No, but at some stage what you think is maybe important. But if everybody says the opposite of what you think and you say, it’s difficult to be convincing always. So I felt that after a frustrating result against Bayern Munich it was important to win today.”
ARSENAL SCORED A CLEAN HEADER TODAY, THE FIRST OF
THE SEASON. DO YOU TRY TO CORRECT THAT IN TRAINING?
“Yes, but in fairness but our strikers are not great headers. Everybody is better on the ground than in the air. It’s difficult to get that going because the players don’t naturally go for headers. I feel it will always be our
weak point, even if I work on it.And at the moment I must concede that we do not work too much on it because we play every three days.”
DID THE EASE OF THE VICTORY SURPRISE YOU?
“It became easy. We made it easy.We kept going, we kept the
concentration level high when it was 2-0.Then at 3-0 the heads of Newcastle dropped. They know that it’s difficult to go to Arsenal and when you’re 3-0 down, it’s hard to win the game or get something out of it. So the last 20 minutes became easier.”
DAVID LACEY ASKED: NOW YOU’VE GOT 10 WEEKS WITHOUT
A CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GAME, DO YOU SENSE THAT THE
PLAYERS ARE READY TO GIVE IT EVERYTHING FOR 90
MINUTES ON A SATURDAY?
“I hope so. I believe that with 34 points and having had the number of Champions League games, we have not done too badly.But the unfortunate thing in that story is that Man United didnt drop points.You would expect Man United to could have 35 or 36 or 37, but not 40. They have done exceptionally well. I don’t think we have done too badly overall.We had just a dip in November,let’s hope we can
be more consistent now.”
CAN PARLOUR HELP YOU SOLVE THE PROBLEM OF NOT
SCORING ENOUGH GOALS FROM MIDFIELD?
“Let’s say we score less if you compare with Man United. That’s for sure. But what was happoneing in recent years was we had a stable defensive midfield and conceded less goals than United. I feel this year for example we conceded 13 goals and Man United now as well,but until today they conceded only 10. We always had an advantage defensively,
but a disadvantage offensively, because the structure of our team was more defensive in midfield than Man United.”
BOBBY ROBSON did not come up until an hour after the final whistle.
But he was worth waiting for because he is still one of the most compelling personalities in English football.
He gives you something you don’t get from any other visiting manager : a sense that the Premiership is still a sport.
Bobby, the miner’s son, loves football matches because they make him feel more alive. His enthusiasm is infectious, his sportsmanship admirable, and the amount of detail he can remember about a match is impressive in a 67-year old.
He has an old-fashioned appetite for competition which somehow defines Geordie Englishness. He loves a football match, and thinks it is important, but he knows it is only a football match.
He still relishes a battle of tactical wits, even when it goes wrong.His candid analysis contained plenty of detail on the nuts and bolts of who was marking who, the qualities of his opponents, and Shearer’s injections.
Prior to Saturday Newcastle had not conceded more than two goals in any game, but Bobby fielded a young side and knew the risks.
HOW DO YOU FEEL AFTER A MATCH LIKE THAT?
“Terrific!”
LAUGHTER.
“No, we got smashed. It’s as simple as that. Once the first goal went in, then the second one soon after that, it was a case of damage limitation.I said at half-time the next goal will certainly determine this match.Either it goes to 3-0 and it’s : Goodnight, nurse, and I’m looking for a taxi. Or if we get it, it will give us some encouragement. But it wasn’t to be. They just showed us, as I’ve just said to my young players, what you’ve got to work towards,and rise to.
“Because they were hungry. Apart from their quality, excellent quality on the pitch, all over,every single player was a top class player and their passing and movement was top class, and their service of the ball, I just thought they had a terrific desire. And yet all of their goals, were not a result of great possession football, where they’re making seven, eight passes, and you’ree chasing the ball and you cant get the ball and then
they get through you.They were all through breaking up our attacks and playing very effective two pass, three pass, four pass movements, with the move being finished on the fourth or the third pass.
“I mean, Adams gets the ball in midfield and hits the ball over the top,Henry gets in behind Aaron Hughes and finishes- two passes , goal. Second goal is a mistake by Griffin, OK I can’t criticise my players, I know how they feel (not half as bad as I do), we lost the ball down by the left corner flag, it gets played down through, Parlour makes a straight run through between the two young centrehalves, it’s a terrific finish.
“And Kanu did the same for the third goal after half time. Ball over the top, no clever passing movements, just effective, simple, early football, got in behind our two young centrehalves. And that was the difference : we had two young players learning the game, Henry and Kanu are two
gifted, intelligent experienced international players. It’s like you playing against me – you wouldn’t win.
“Parlour’s come in, fresh as a daisy, didn’t play Tuesday night, so he’s able to make strong runs out of midfield. We couldn’t cope with it.Three times he’s done it, three times he’s scored. So it’s not a game for me to get angry with my players in public. I won’t do that. We’ve lost
5-0, forget about it. Next match we’ve got Bradford at home, we’ve got 52,000 people, we’ve gotta pick up three points.
“But obviously, without Shearer,Cort and Gallagher, our three principal strikers, we’re weakened up front. Or three main centrehalves, Goma, Dabizas and Marcelino, who is just about ready to make a position clear to us, not in the team. So we’ll just have to soldier on. Its three points in
a massive games for us. There was always a chance that we’d lose it anyway.Surprisingly we took four points out of Arsenal last year, we won’t do that this year.”
WHAT WAS THE GAME PLAN?
“The game was this- I just thought : If you play with a sweeper you get pushed back, so I just thought we’ll play with a flat back four. We’ll play three in midfield against their two, Robert Lee will sit in front of the
two centrehalves and try and stop the balls to feet of their two front players.
“Anything behind the two centrehalves we will pick up because they’re good players, they will be good players. But one’s 19, one’s 20. two players out wide, stop the fullbacks from breaking, Dyer on one side, Solano on another, leaving your two centrehalves against Lua Lua.I
thought the two centrehalves, from an attacking point of view, would hurt us – not with the ball. I knew the left back would hurt us with the ball because I thought Cole would play, or Silvinho.Were they both injured? I was quite happy about that when I saw it. I thought : We’ve got a chance here !”
LAUGHTER
“Just shows how much I know. In came Dyer, it’s not his best position,but he’s quick and we thought we could pin the two full backs down. And leave Lua Lua up front. He did alright, the kid, he’s 19. He’s playing against Adams and Keown. How many games have they played for England, those two? Lua has played three games at Colchester. Think
about that. It was gonna be a nightmare if it went wrong and it went wrong for us. The kid did alright, didn’t he? Adams smashed him,” said Bobby, punching his hand.
“Keown smashed him.” He punched his hand again.
“Our two centrehalves were a little bit nervous with their two, so we coudn’t do that. Didn’t do it. So that was the difference.Look at their front scene, look at our front scene. “
ARE YOU GOING INTO THE TRANSFER MARKET?
“Not unless the board change their minds. We’ll soldier on with what we’ve got, and we’ll sink or swim together.”
ANY MORE NEWS ON ALAN’S KNEE?
“He’s no better now than when he did it last Friday, so that’s nine days away. It’s exactly the same. It’s very inflamed, it’s very painful, he can’t push off and he can’t turn. He sees the surgeon on Tuesday to see whether the inflammation has gone down to put a steroid into it. Because
he’s had a steroid put into that tendon twice before. He’s had a marvellous reaction each time. It’s cleared it up and within three days he’s been able to play. It will be the last injection, if he puts it in, because you cant just keep putting steroids into people. So he’s told Alan : If I
have to do it this time it will be the last time. If it flares up again, which it might because he’s 30 and he’s been a flogged horse, you’ll have to have a long rest, or an operation. So that’s what we’re faced with.”
ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT THREE STEROID INJECTION SINCE
HE HAS BEEN AT NEWCASTLE?
“He had one under Kevin Keegan, for the European Championships, and we got him right. And then it re-emerged in August, so he missed pre-season training with us for two and a half weeks. So he’s had it twice.An operation would be 12 weeks out. Operation, rehabilitation, get fit again, three months.
“Problem is , we bought Cort and Corts played two matches in five months.Our five biggest guys – Shearer,Cort , Dabizas,Marcellino and Goma – are all out of the team. But, surprisingly, we never got done today on free-kicks. I was worried about that. We actually never got caught on free-kicks or corners. We actually dealt with that quite well in the air. If you look at our players compared to their players. When I heard Vieira was out today I thought : that’s a relief! Imagine if he had played
today. We might have won 5-0 !”
LAUGHTER.
“So with Cort and Shearer out up front, and little Gallagaher, who is Scotland’s striker. I know he’s 33 but he’s actually the principal striker for Scotland, so he would have been very useful for us today.He’s not gonna jump up and win the ball against Adams but on deck he’s
experienced, a good little worker and knows the game.With those three out…..”
A spoting manager produces a sportsmanlike team.It was refreshing to see that Newcastle, although humiliated, did not become spiteful. They had nobody like Bakke, who sticks his face into his opponent’s face in every game. Yes, Bakke did it again at Southampton, I’m told, and should have been sent off for bringing down the last man.
A shame that Bobby Robson did not follow Keegan into St James Park in 1997, because Dalglish and Gullit spent millions on bad players.
Even with Shearer fit there is no team at Newcastle, just as there is no team at Middlesbrough.Will Bobby have to sell Kieron Dyer to finance a new team?
What is it about the North East? Newcastle and Middlesbrough? How thehell can you spend £80 million and not have a team?
Not much more to say. Gary Speed is the most overrated player of the last ten years.
Vivas had a solid game at left back, marking Solano, Newcastle’s most gifted player, and again proving himself a consistent utility player. He did not come to London to play against Peruvians, but he certainly didn’t want Peru to put one over on Argentina.
Solano is a classy creator, more skilful than Beckham and level with Mr Posh on Premiership assists last season.( How many assists? Please e-mail us!)
Next weekend will be interesting. Liverpool, just beaten by Ipswich at Anfield, will need something at Old Trafford.
Liverpool v Arsenal is the Sky Saturday morning game on December
23rd.
11th December 2000